We are often very surprised about how and where composers chose their subject matters when creating a new musical. So far it’s been The First Lady of Argentina, a TS Elliot poetry book about cats, and Tim Rice even based one of his on a game of Chess.
Now Joel Goodman & Jan Osborne have turned the extraordinary life of Alan Turning the English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. and the father of artificial intelligence. Turing played a crucial role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Axis powers in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic
Although regarded as a war hero, the Government summarily dismissed Turing after he was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts. He accepted hormone treatment with DES, a procedure commonly referred to as chemical castration, as an alternative to prison.
Turing took his own life on 7 June 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday by ingesting cyanide . 50 years later following a public campaign the British prime minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated”. Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon in 2013. In 2017 The term “Alan Turing law” was adopted to informally refer to a new law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.
This new musical is a biographical account is narrated by Andrea, the fictitious author of Alan Turing’s biography. Alan’s dialogue is directly taken from historical letters that he wrote to his friends, colleagues & his mother.
6th February - 18th March Kings Head Theatre, London Performers | Joe Bishop, Owen Butcher, Zara Cooke, Shania-Grace Thompson Producer | Joel Goodman Director | Joe Maingot Composers | Joel Goodman & Jan Osborn
Labels: 2023, Alan Turing, code breaker, Joe; Goodman, Kings Head Theatre, London, musical, war hero
